XYZ Affair

The XYZ Affair was a 1797 political affair that led to a breakdown of relations between the United States and the French First Republic as the result of the French showing disrespect to the US ambassadorial delegation. The name came from the nicknames given to the French diplomats Hottinguer (X), Bellamy (Y), and Hauteval (Z). The American diplomats Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry were asked for bribes and a loan before formal negotiations with the French government about preventing a potential war between the two countries could ensue (the two countries were at odds over America's refusal to pay back its debts to France and its refusal to side with France during the French Revolutionary Wars). The American diplomats were insulted, and they refused to enter the negotiations; only Gerry remained in France, with his goal being to smoothe tensions with the French revolutionary government. From 1798 to 1800, France and the USA engaged in the undeclared naval "Quasi-War", with the pro-Britain Federalist Party using the affair as an excuse to build up the US military and to insult the pro-French Democratic-Republican Party.